First-round pairing sets up another WNBA playoff battle between Sparks and Minnesota Lynx

It wouldn’t be a WNBA postseason without a Sparks-Minnesota Lynx matchup.
For the fourth consecutive year, the playoffs will bring the teams together. But instead of meeting in the semifinals or finals, where for the past two years LA and Minnesota have forced full five-game series for all the marbles, the WNBA’s two most recent champions will face each other in a single-elimination first-round affair at Staples Center. They meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a game that will be broadcast